Culture, Genre and the Construction of Love in Waiting for Godot , The Rez Sisters , and Things Fall Apart .
This essay will argue that there are different kinds of love endorsed and criticized in each text. In general these may be grouped into two categories: (1) love for one's fellow human being; and (2) love for something transcendent of the individual, whether it be a community/culture or a deity. As will be seen, the generic conventions of drama limit the expression of meaning to characters' words and actions. However, both Beckett and Highway stretch the boundaries of convention in their dramas which, by flouting the conventional realism of the dramatic genre, permit the exploration of complex representations of love. In contrast, it may be argued that Achebe remains more within the conventions of his genre than Beckett and Highway in theirs. This is not a weakness, however, in that the novel form allows Achebe to represent human character and motivation - in terms of the manifestation of love - on levels that the dramatic genre cannot. 13 pgs. bibliography lists 3 sources.
